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THE IMPORTANCE OF POLLINATORS

The vast majority of plant species-- almost 90%, in fact-- rely on pollinators to reproduce. Pollination is the process by which pollinators help plants to produce fruit (technically anything with seeds on the inside, so that includes things we normally think of as vegetables, like cucumbers, green beans and tomatoes) by transporting pollen from one flower to another. There are approximately 200,000 different species of animals around the world that act as pollinators. Of these, about 1,000 are vertebrates, such as birds, bats, and small mammals, and the rest are invertebrates, including flies, beetles, butterflies, moths, and bees. Pollinators provide pollination services to over 180,000 different plant species.

Pollinators help plants survive, and plants:

Produce ⅓ of our food supply by giving us countless fruits, vegetables, and nuts

Provide ½ of the world's oils, fibers (such as the cotton used to make clothes), and other raw materials

Are used to create many medicines

Provide food and cover for wildlife

Keep waterways clean

Prevent soil erosion

Produce the oxygen we breathe

Absorb CO2, counteracting global climate change

Globally, pollinators are responsible for pollinating more than 1,200 crops. 87 of the leading 115 food crops, or about 75%, depend on pollinators. Every year, pollinators contribute more than $217 billion to the global economy, and $24 billion to the US economy. If we consider the indirect products of plants, such as milk and beef from cows fed on alfalfa, the value of pollinator services in the US would increase to an incredible $40 billion.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HONEY BEES

Honey bees are among the most numerous and efficient pollinator species in the world. Considering that the average honey bee can visit more than 2,000 flowers in one day, these bees greatly increase the chances of a plant producing a fruit or vegetable.

Honey bees are the species most commonly used as commercial pollinators in the US. They are managed and used to pollinate over 100 crops grown in North America, and contribute $15 billion to the US economy every year. Many crops, such as almonds, which contribute $4.8 billion to the US industry each year, rely on honey bees for more than 90% of their pollination.

But honey bees don't only pollinate crops-- they also pollinate wild and native plants, thus contributing to all the environmental and societal benefits attributed to pollinators in general above.

HONEY BEE DECLINE

Honey bees are clearly vital parts of our ecosystem, acting as highly efficient pollinators of our food crops as well as for wild flora. We need bees to keep our crops and earth healthy, but in recent years their numbers have been decreasing by the billions. This decline has been linked to several factors, including parasites such as varroa mites, which bite bees and infect them with fatal viruses (read more about varroa mites here!), the use of pesticides which poison bees, and monoculture farming, which prevents them from having a varied diet.

Last year, in 2016, 44% of managed beehives in the US died. The number of managed honey bee colonies in the United States has declined steadily over the past 60 years, from 6 million colonies (beehives) in 1947 to 4 million in 1970, 3 million in 1990, and just 2.5 million today. Overwintering loss rates have increased from the historical rate of 10-15% to approximately 30%, and beekeepers have collectively lost approximately 10 million beehives.

THE ROLE OF NATIVE BEES

Did you know that there are 4,000 different bee species native to North America? These bees vary widely, from cuckoo bees to bumble bees. Some are smaller than an eighth of an inch, while others are more than an inch long. They range in color from metallic green or blue to dark brown or black to striped red or orange.

Native bees are often overlooked because they aren't domesticated, or because some of them don't look like "traditional" bees (fuzzy, black and yellow). But these bees are the original residents of North America, who quietly and industriously pollinate our crops side by side with the honey bee.

Native bees might not spend much time in the spotlight, but they make a huge contribution to our environment and our economy. In 2009, the crop benefits from native insect pollination in the United States were valued at more than $9 billion dollars.

Sadly, native bees are struggling just as much as honey bees. Many species are endangered (read more about their endangerment here), and a few have already gone extinct. The factors that harm managed honey bees also harm wild bees, such as parasites, pathogens, and poor nutrition due to monoculture farms. A study published by the National Academy of Sciences last year found that wild bees may be disappearing in California's Central Valley, the Midwest's corn belt, the Mississippi River Valley and other key farm regions. Between 2008 and 2013, modeled bee abundance declined across 23% of US land area.

Now more than ever we must find new and innovative ways to protect these national treasures and preserve the balance of our ecosystem.

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Bees and other pollinators are responsible for a third of our food and contribute over $217 billion to the global economy each year. They also pollinate almost 90% of the world's plants, keeping our environment healthy and providing habitats for countless other species. Let's show the bees some love

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Article - What would happen if bees became extinct?

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Article - What would happen if bees became extinct?

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In a recent blog we looked at many of the reasons why our bee populations are in serious trouble. So what would happen if bees actually became extinct? Why should we care? What would a world without bees look like and what issues would that cause for the human population, other animals and plants?

Bees are one of the most important species on the planet and if all the bees died the world would be a very different place. They are critical pollinators for many of the crop products we use daily.

A world without bees would be a place where supermarkets would struggle to fill the fruit and vegetable aisles and the products that we could find would likely only be available at a very high price. Items that are common and inexpensive now, would become luxury items.

Here is a list of 10 everyday things that need bees:

Apples

Apples are one of the most popular, common and very affordable fruits that we all enjoy. But without bees to pollinate apple trees this would no longer be the case. Apples would become scarce and very expensive quickly without bees.

Like most fruit trees, apples in particular require cross-pollination with other varieties that are not closely related to produce a full healthy crop of fruit. Without bees this would have to be done by human hand, which is possible but would make little economic sense in most countries.

Of course this would then knock-on affect other apple products like cider, apple pastries, and apple juice- you need around 2.5kg of apples just to make a single litre of juice. That a lot of pollination required by bees!

Berries and Cherries

Many types of berry rely heavily on bee pollination. In the case of raspberries, blackberries and blueberries bees are considered essential. It's almost impossible to imagine that these fruits would exist without bees. They would just be too difficult to produce without bee pollinating them. The same goes for cherries, so no cherry pie available in that famous Twin Peaks diner! It's not only cherry pie that would be off the menu either...

Coffee

... without bees a fine cup of coffee to start the day could be a thing of the past too! Some coffee varieties can be self-pollinated but even in those cases the presence of bees can dramatically improve the quality and size of the coffee beans. Without bees they might not be a viable crop.

Some varieties like Robusta coffee, appear to be completely dependent on pollinators. Without bees, coffee would be more difficult and more much expensive to produce. Our varieties available would become very limited and what was available would see a very unwelcome and dramatic price increase.

Cotton

Cotton crops do not rely completely on bees for pollination but introducing them into the crop during flowering results in a very large increase in quantity and quality of the cotton lint.

Without the hard work that bees do, several changes would happen. It would be likely that an inexpensive cotton t-shirt would become an expensive garment to buy. And that wouldn't just affect clothing, a simple item like a cotton tea towel or a bag of cotton make-up pads would become an expensive item.

Cotton crops would also be far less profitable and it would be a massive set back for cotton production, which might lead to only man-made materials available for most uses.

Bee pollination has been shown to increase fibre strength and length, so without bees we might see a big drop in the quality of any available cotton too.

Nuts

Almonds are one of the most nutritious and versatile nuts but unfortunately they would the first nuts to disappear. It would seem an impossibility to pollinate the almond groves without bees.

No more almond oil, almond milk, shampoos with almond extracts, almond bakery goods. Brazil nuts and macadamia nuts would follow soon after as bees are also deemed essential for their production.

Dairy Products

It's not only almond milk that would be disappear from the supermarket shelves either. Dairy cows rely on bee pollinated plants as a food source, so dairy cows would likely become a thing of the past too. You would have to say goodbye to most cheese, yoghurt, milk chocolate, ice cream and custard.

In time we would likely lose all the plants that bees usually naturally pollinate. All the wild animals that eat those plants would also struggle to find food. This plant based food shortage could continue along the food chain and eventually affect almost all living creatures on the planet.

Medication

Many medicines humans use, both conventional and alternative, are derived from flowering plants. The willow and aspen trees used to make aspirin are pollinated by bees. Opium poppies used to produce morphine are also pollinated by bees. The manufacturing of many important drugs and medical treatments could be affected by a sudden loss of our bee population, leading to shortages and in some cases complete unavailability.

Rapeseed Oil

We could expect the most common vegetable oil industry to collapse fairly quickly. Oilseed rape crops are loved by our buzzy friends and they are highly rich in pollen and nectar. The irony is that Oilseed Rape crops are also one of the crops most commonly sprayed with bee-harming pesticides.

Vegetables

Broccoli, Carrots, Pumpkins and other squash-type vegetables would become extremely hard to produce without bee pollination. Like many of your favourite fruits, they would just become too rare and expensive to use as everyday products, so it would be likely that they would disappear completely.

...And last but not least... Honey

Lastly, without bees there would obviously be no honey! We would be losing one of the healthiest, versatile and natural food products available. One of our favourite baking and cooking products would be gone and beekeepers would have no bees to look after. We would miss the honey in skin remedies, shampoos and other cosmetic products. Beeswax would also become something we could only read about.

If all bees died it may not be a total extinction event for humans, but it would be a disaster for our planet. We would see a domino-like effect as many plants started to just disappear one by one, and all animal species would start to struggle to find food.

Herbivores, who depend on certain plant species, would be affected first. They would simply become extinct if those plants ceased to exist because they were no longer being pollinated by bees.

The animals that fed on those animals would be the next to starve and face extinction... and so on as each link in our natural food chain broke down. The price of food and medicines would become out of control, leading to an economic disaster.

It's almost impossible to overstate how much bees play an essential role in the global food supply and natural balance of the planet. It's important not just for us that bees survive, but for every living thing on the planet.

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What would happen if bees became extinct?

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Bees are one of the most important species on the planet and if all the bees died the world would be a very different place. They are critical pollinators for many of the crop products we use daily.

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5 Reasons Why We Need Bees More Than Ever – And What You Can Do To Help Save The Bees

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Australia's crucial crop pollination industry is experiencing a worker shortage of its own due to the widespread flood damage to thousands of beehives.

Last year, 277,000 beehives were needed to pollinate almond orchards

Beekeepers recently lost thousands of hives to floods

Sunraysia pollination coordinator Trevor Monson is trying to find extra hives to help pollinate almond trees

It's estimated recent floods in New South Wales and Queensland destroyed 8,500 hives and some of the hives that survived unscathed were now being attacked by small hive beetle.

Sunraysia pollination coordinator Trevor Monson usually sources half his beehives from areas in Queensland and New South Wales, where many hives remain stuck in floodwater and mud.

Some beehives on higher ground were also inaccessible.

"The problem is they can't get to them," Mr Monson said.

"So it's a bit of an unknown as to whether they've been attacked by small hive beetle, which targets weakened hives and slimes them out."

Many of the hives destroyed by flooding would have been used to pollinate blueberry, macadamia and seed canola crops.

Last year, 277,000 beehives were needed to pollinate almond orchards.

Mr Monson is concerned beekeepers who would usually travel to Sunraysia in Victoria to help pollinate almonds might choose not to make the trip south this year.

'Spoilt honey covered in maggots'

Beekeeper Lenny Clarke lost 240 hives between Mungo and Ivanhoe when 100 millimetres of rain fell in a short amount of time.

Mr Clarke says he's heartbroken by the damage.

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240 hives destroyed after 100mm of rain falls between Mungo and Ivanhoe(Supplied: Lenny Clarke)

"Water covered the entrance and inundated the brood nest (bottom boxes) killing the unhatched bees as well as the queen and virtually all of the bees in the hive as they were unable to escape," he said.

"We're left with spoilt honey that is getting covered in maggots that have intruded into the hive.

"We spend an enormous amount of time planning where we place hives to avoid any sort of events that may lead to a disastrous situation like this."

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Hunt for hives continues

Beekeeping conferences normally start in May and Mr Monson said he would attend them to try and find extra hives to help with the almond pollination.

He has also put the call out through his existing network for any beekeepers interested in making the trip south to Victoria.

"We've had a few enquiries, which is good. They're expecting because we're short of bees the price is going to go up," he said.

Mr Monson said almond companies were starting to feel nervous there could be a shortage of hives.

"They're already offering at least the CPI increase, but as you can imagine they're in the similar position where fuel prices are really going to hurt them, the almond prices are not real good and shipping is a problem," he said.

As the almond industry around Sunraysia has grown significantly in recent decades, so too has the demand for bees at pollination time.

Even coronavirus and border closures have not stopped the largest movement of livestock in Australia from taking place.

"I was thinking that, you know, the border restrictions are all gone now and then all of a sudden we get this, so it's always a challenge," Mr Monson said.

"But we're a couple of months away, the fuel prices might come down and hopefully there's not another [COVID] variant that closes borders or something. It certainly makes life interesting."

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Worry over crop viability as beekeepers scramble to replace hives wiped out by floods

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Australia's crucial crop pollination industry is experiencing a worker shortage of its own due to the widespread flood damage to thousands of beehives.

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Queensland, NSW floods, disease destroy bees needed to pollinate almond, macadamia and blueberry crops

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Queensland, NSW floods, disease destroy bees needed to pollinate almond, macadamia and blueberry crops

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Australia's crucial crop pollination industry is experiencing a worker shortage of its own due to the widespread flood damage to thousands of beehives.

It's estimated recent floods in New South Wales and Queensland destroyed 8,500 hives and some of the hives that survived unscathed were now being attacked by small hive beetle.

Many of the hives destroyed by flooding would have been used to pollinate blueberry, macadamia and seed canola crops.

Last year, 277,000 beehives were needed to pollinate almond orchards.

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What If ALL The Bees In The World DISAPPEARED?